Main menu

Post navigation

William Donald Grigg (born 3 July 1991) is a professional footballer who plays as a striker for Milton Keynes Dons, on loan from Brentford. He represents Northern Ireland at international level. Grigg began his professional career at Walsall and came to prominence during the 2012–13 season, winning the club’s Player of the Season and Players’ Player of the Season awards.
Grigg was educated at Solihull School and is a Birmingham City supporter. He was signed by Birmingham City at the age of seven and progressed through the club’s youth teams. Grigg suffered a broken leg at age 15. After his release by Birmingham in 2007, Grigg became a student at Solihull College and turned out for Solihull Moors’ youth team.

In September 2007, Grigg signed non-contract terms with Midland Alliance side Stratford Town and made his first team debut in a 0–0 FA Cup qualifying draw versus Hednesford Town on 15 September. He started the replay and was substituted after 58 minutes for Steven Ruck. Grigg scored in a league game versus Biddulph Victoria on 29 September, and again versus Racing Club Warwick on 7 October.
Having courted interest from West Bromwich Albion, Grigg signed a scholarship at League One side Walsall in the summer of 2008. Assigned the number 24 shirt, he made his league debut as an 89th minute substitute for Dwayne Mattis in a 0–0 draw with Cheltenham Town on 20 December 2008. Grigg was an unused substitute for a 2–1 defeat away to Tranmere Rovers on 28 December 2008 and made no further appearances in the first team squad during the 2008–09 season. Grigg made no appearances during the 2009–10 season, but was an unused substitute on 20 occasions. Grigg featured regularly as a second half substitute during the 2010–11 season and made his first start for Walsall in a 1–0 FA Cup second round defeat at Torquay United on 27 November 2010. He made his first league start in a 1–0 away win against Charlton Athletic on 12 December 2010. He scored his first senior goal in a 2–2 league draw against Bristol Rovers on 11 January 2011. Grigg finished the 2010–11 season having made 30 appearances and scored four goals. Grigg made 32 appearances and scored four goals during the 2011–12 season.
Grigg became a regular starter during the 2012–13 season and scored seven goals before the New Year, including a brace in a 4–2 away victory over Milton Keynes Dons on Boxing Day. Grigg started 2013 in style with a goal, an assist and his first professional Man of the Match award in Walsall’s televised league game against Portsmouth on 4 January. His impressive form continued as he scored his first hat-trick in a 3–0 victory at Carlisle United on 26 February, bringing his season tally up to 14 goals. He finished the 2012–13 season with a run of 10 goals in 11 games, as Walsall mounted an unsuccessful challenge to qualify for the League One playoffs. Grigg’s form led to interest from Championship side Derby County and Premier League sides Aston Villa, Southampton and Norwich City.

photo NI football.

Grigg won the Walsall Player of the Season and Players’ Player of the Season awards for the 2012–13 season, having made 46 appearances and finished the season as the club’s top scorer with 20 goals. Grigg’s contract expired at the end of the season and he left the club after turning down a new four-year deal. He finished his Walsall career having made 109 appearances and scored 28 goals.
On 1 July 2013, Grigg signed for fellow League One side Brentford on a three-year deal. As Grigg was under 24 at the time of the transfer, the deal went to a Football League tribunal and Brentford were ordered to pay an initial £325,000, plus add-ons. By July 2014, the fee had risen to £405,000.(This has not been confirmed)

Grigg made his debut for the club in the first game of the 2013–14 season, a 1–1 away draw at Port Vale on 3 August 2013. On his next appearance, he scored his first Brentford goals, a brace in a 3–1 home victory overSheffield United on 10 August. Injury, international call ups and being played out of position by manager Uwe Rösler led to Grigg enduring a stuttering start to his Brentford career and he admitted suffering a dip in confidence. He went 10 games without a goal, until he was retrospectively credited with Brentford’s second in a 3–2 win over Peterborough United on 26 November. In the following game, Grigg scored the winner in a 1–0 league victory over Notts County. Grigg scored his fifth Brentford goal against Port Vale on 11 January 2014, scoring late in the second half after coming on for Sam Saunders. In March and still behind Clayton Donaldson and Marcello Trotta in the pecking order, Grigg told the Hounslow Chronicle “I haven’t become a bad striker overnight. I’ve been training well, I’m confident and keep believing. If I get a run of games, I think I will always score goals”. Grigg made regular appearances in the latter stages of a successful season in which Brentford secured automatic promotion to the Championship, but was unable to find the net and finished the campaign with 36 appearances and five goals. Grigg had mixed feelings about his debut season at Griffin Park, saying “I didn’t play as often as I would have liked and scoring only five goals wasn’t my aim. It was difficult, having started 40 games for Walsall the previous year. It was stop-start, especially with me missing games due to international duty”. Grigg was the subject of transfer interest from League One side Bristol City in late June 2014, but he quashed the speculation the following month. He departed Griffin Park on a season-long loan in July, but good form while on loan led manager Mark Warburton to comment in October that he may bring Grigg back to Brentford in January 2015.
On 18 July 2014, it was announced that Grigg had joined League One side Milton Keynes Dons on a season-long loan. Manager Karl Robinson stated that Grigg is “a goalscorer at this level and he’s a Northern Ireland international too. He’s got the pedigree to come in and do well”. Grigg scored on his debut for the club, levelling the score at 2–2 in an eventual 4–2 win over Gillingham on the opening day of the 2014–15 season. After three further appearances without scoring, Grigg put on a man of the match performance in a League Cup second round match versus Manchester United on 26 August, scoring a brace in a 4–0 victory. The match kick-started Grigg’s season and he went on to score three goals in his next six games, to take his tally to five goals in seven games. After seven games without a goal, Grigg netted his seventh of the season with the opener in a 2–2 draw with Rochdale on 25 November.

Robert George “Bobby” Gough (born 20 July 1949) is an English former footballer who played as a forward. In a fifteen-year professional career in the Football League he scored 114 goals in 474 league appearances.
After failing to make an impression at Birmingham City and Walsall, he made his name at Port Vale between 1968 and 1974, making a total of 229 appearances for the “Valiants”. During this time he helped the club to win promotion out of the Fourth Division in the 1969–70 season. Following a loan spell at Stockport County, he transferred to Southport in 1974, before arriving at Colchester United two years later. He helped Colchester out of the Fourth Division in 1976–77, and scored a total of 80 goals in 232 games, before he departed for non-league Hendon in 1981. He later turned out for Chelmsford City, before he left football for the building trade.Gough was a Birmingham City youth player, but was not offered a professional contract with the club due to his small stature. He then went on to join Third Division Walsall in 1966, but only made one league appearance for the club.
He joined Port Vale in June 1968, who were then in the Fourth Division. He was one of manager Gordon Lee’s first signings. He scored his first senior goal on 16 September, in a 3–0 win over York City at Vale Park. He added to his tally with a goal against Exeter City, and also scored in both legs of Vale’s FA Cup win over Shrewsbury Town. He finished the 1968–69 campaign with four goals in 42 games.
He was more prolific in the 1969–70 season, scoring nine goals in 45 league games to help the club achieve promotion in fourth place. The most notable of these goals was a 35-yard effort that helped Vale to a 3–2 win at Oldham Athletic on 13 September; The Sentinel reporter Chris Harper noted that “Gough can certainly hit a ball”. He coped well in the Third Division, and scored a hat-trick at the Gay Meadow on 12 September, in what finished as a 7–3 defeat for the “Valiants”. By the end of the 1970–71 campaign he bagged eight goals in 37 games, including a goal against fallen giants Aston Villa. He finished the 1971–72 season as the club’s top scorer with ten goals in 47 appearances.
However in 1972–73 he was limited two goals in 29 games, hitting the net in easy wins over Southend United and Rotherham United. Instead Ray Williams and Sammy Morgan were forming an impressive attacking partnership, scoring 22 goals between them. Gough was dropped in November 1973, and went out on a one month loan to struggling Fourth Division side Stockport County in December, but failed to score in six appearances. He scored his final goal for the Vale against Southport on 2 March 1974. He finished the 1973–74 campaign with two goals in 26 games for Vale, as well as six games for Stockport County. In May 1974 he was allowed join Southport on a free transfer. He made a total of 229 appearances (210 in the league) and scored 35 goals (33 in the league) for the Vale.
Southport were starting their 1974–75 campaign in the Fourth Division, having suffered relegation out of the Third Division. The club entered free-fall, and had to apply for re-election at the end of 1975–76, having finished second-from-bottom in the Football League. Gough managed sixteen goals in 61 league appearances for the club in his two seasons, before he joined Colchester United for a £7,000 fee in January 1976.
Bobby Roberts’s Colchester United lost their third tier status at the end of 1975–76, despite Gough scoring five goals in 22 games during the second-half of the season. Colchester won promotion of the Fourth Division in third-place in 1976–77, with Gough scoring nineteen goals in 52 games – five short of strike partner Colin Garwood. The U’s consolidated their Third Division status with an eighth place finish in 1977–78, and Gough finished as the club’s top-scorer with seventeen goals in 51 games. Garwood’s tally of thirteen strikes meant the pair combined to bring the U’s thirty goals over the course of the campaign.
United went on to finish seventh in 1978–79, and Gough was once again the club’s top-scorer with 22 goals in fifty appearances. In the FA Cup, he scored a hat-trick against Oxford United, two against Leatherhead and the winning goal against Newport County to bring Colchester a Fifth Round tie with Manchester United – which the “Red Devils” won 1–0.
Colchester finished fifth in 1979–80, Gough scored twelve goals in 32 games, some six behind strike partner Trevor Lee. The club suffered relegation at the end of the 1980–81campaign after finishing two points below the safety of Walsall. Gough spent much of the season out of the first team, and made just eighteen appearances, scoring five goals, as Kevin Bremner was preferred to partner Lee up front. Gough left the club for Hendon at the end of the campaign, having scored a total of 80 goals (65 in the league) in 232 games (196 in the league).
Gough later turned out for non-league sides Hendon and Chelmsford City.
After hanging up his boots, Gough worked as a builder in Essex.

Colin Kenneth Gordon (born 17 January 1963) is an English former footballer born in Stourbridge, Worcestershire, who played as a striker. He scored 60 goals in 194 appearances in the Football League playing for Swindon Town

, Wimbledon, Gillingham,Reading, Bristol City, Fulham, Birmingham City, Hereford United, Walsall, Bristol Rovers and Leicester City. He went on to play non-league football for Kidderminster Harriers, Gloucester City, on loan from Kidderminster, and Stourbridge.
He then went into sports agency; his company represented England national team manager Steve McClaren and players David James and Theo Walcott, among others. He came to particular notice when he made an attack on football finance, alleging significant levels of corruption within the game.

Ronald Rex “Ron” Green (born 3 October 1956) is a former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper in the football league.
Born in Birmingham, England, Green played for Football League teams including two spells at Walsall and Shrewsbury, and spells with Bristol Rovers, Scunthorpe, Wimbledon and Colchester. Green also appeared for a number of non-league teams. (Alvechurch, Kidderminster Harriers,Bromsgrove included)
Ron was part of the Walsall Football League Fourth Division Runner-up team : 1979–80

Anthony Patrick “Tony” Grealish (21 September 1956 – 23 April 2013) was a professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Born in England to Irish parents, he represented the Republic of Ireland at international level.
Born in Paddington, London, Grealish started playing club football for Leyton Orient(as a youngster then as a pro), Luton Town, Brighton & Hove Albion, West Bromwich Albion, Manchester City, Rotherham United, Walsall and Bromsgrove Rovers. Grealish captained Brighton in the 1983 FA Cup Final.

He represented the Republic of Ireland at international level, captaining his country 17 times, scoring 8 goals in 45 appearances between 1976 and 1985. He also appeared in a total of 13 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches.Grealish died on 23 April 2013, at the age of 56, after battling against cancer

Donald Ralph “Don” Goodman (born 9 May 1966) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. Born in Leeds, Goodman played for the Hunslet Club as a child before going on to Bradford City, West Bromwich Albion, Sunderland, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Sanfrecce Hiroshima, Barnsley, Motherwell, Walsall, Exeter City,Doncaster Rovers and Stafford Rangers.
On 11 May 1985, his ex-girlfriend died in the Valley Parade fire disaster. He was playing in that match. His professional career spanned for 20 years, during which he played nearly 600 Football League games and scored 162 goals.

More recently, Goodman has been covering Football League matches for Sky Sports.
He was part of the Walsall team that won the Football League Second Division play-off final: 2001.

William “Billy” Charles Goffin (12 December 1920 – 15 September 1987), was a former English professional footballer best known for his time at Aston Villa. Goffin signed for Villa from Tamworth and after his Villa career resigned for his former side.He managed Tamworth for 110 games before leaving.

More info:
He signed professional in December 1937.
The Football League was suspended after three games 1939-40.
During the 1939-40 season he played for Villa in a Six-a-side contest at St Andrew’s (on May 11th, 1940).
Goffin also played with Villa during World War 2. (82 – 47 goals)
He also guested for Tamworth, Birmingham, Leicester City, Nottingham Forest and Swansea Town during World War 2.